


Take Me Home Phone

by grawthala



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bad Jokes, Falling In Love, M/M, Marco is a genuinely nice person, Mentions of drugs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-15
Updated: 2014-05-03
Packaged: 2018-01-15 21:01:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1319038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grawthala/pseuds/grawthala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The "Take Me Home Phone" is a service where you can call someone to talk to you on your way home at night.<br/>Jean decides to give it a try, since he has to go through the roughest area of town after an evening out.<br/>Luckily for him, Marco answers his call and takes him home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Call

When Sasha and Connie introduced Jean to the  _Take Me Home Phone_ , they were joking to shut him up, because he always complained about where they lived. Every single time the three went out together, he would have to go through one of the rather rough areas of the town to get home. Alone. At night.

 

“I don’t like it. I always feel as if there is a murderer just waiting to kill me around every corner. That sucks!” he grumbled and Connie sighed.

 

“Well, you refuse to stay over at our place, so you have to take it like a man.”

 

“I don’t want to stay over because you two are way too loud while having sex. I guess there’s nobody who could stand that or even sleep with that noise you’re making. You could probably even wake the dead!”

 

“That’s because it’s good,” Sasha answered and gave Connie a high five.

 

“I don’t want to know if it’s good or not, that’s the point!” Jean answered and looked over his shoulder, as if there was already someone following him, though he and his friends were standing in front of the building where Sasha and Connie lived.

 

“Look, if you’re really scared, you can phone someone, right? There is this new hotline, _Take Me Home Phone_ or something like that. Just look it up. If you’re scared while on your way back home, you can call them and they will talk to you until you get home and even call the police if it gets dangerous. Or you could act like a real man and just walk home alone without wetting your pants. Your choice, we’re getting inside now. See you!” Connie said with a smirk and led his girlfriend away from Jean. Sasha grinned and waved at him and Jean scowled, but turned to get home anyway.

 

Jean stood at the corner of the street, looking at the number on his phone. He hadn’t phoned it yet, but he was about to. He would just never tell Connie and Sasha that he actually called that hotline. They would never know, right? It was okay. They would never know he was such a pussy…

 

Bullshit. That district of the city was known as one of the worst areas in the whole state. He knew that even Connie and Sasha themselves avoided it at night.

“Act like a man… Act like a man my ass!” Jean grumbled and just phoned the number. Nobody would ever know.

 

“Good evening! My name is Marco Bott and you called Take Me Home Phone, so where are you and where can I take you?” a cheerful voice greeted him and Jean had to clear his throat before he was able to answer.

 

“Umm, yeah, hi, I’m Jean Kirstein. I am currently standing at the corner Main Road/Baskerville Drive and I need to go to the college dorm right next to the university. It’s about ten minutes from where I am,” he answered and blushed deeply, though he knew nobody could see his embarrassment.

 

“Okay, Jean. Is this your first time calling? Shall I explain what exactly we’re doing?”

“Yeah, first time, but I guess my friends already told me. I’m gonna go now. What are we talking about?” Jean asked, unsure what he should say.

 

“How about your evening? You’re on your way home, I guess?” Marco answered and Jean smiled. That guy had a really nice voice.

 

“Yeah. I was out with two friends but have to go home alone. We were at a bar together.”

 

“Sounds good. Did those guys tell you about our… I will call it service, okay?” the guy said and laughed and Jean, although quite tense, couldn't help but smile.

 

“Yeah, they did. I think they were just joking, because I guess it’s rather pathetic for a 19 year old guy to call you.” Jean said and felt ashamed. He was really a loser. Hopefully nobody would ever get to know of this call.

 

“Nah, not really. I once had a guy on my phone who was thirty something and he wanted back home – to his mom. So don’t worry, you’re actually a little younger than the guys who usually phone us. Would you mind telling me where you are?”

 

Jean didn’t mind, of course not.

 

“Okay, thank you. I will ask you sometimes so that I know where you are in case something happens, okay?” Marco answered and Jean nodded before he realized that the other couldn’t see it.

 

“Yes, okay,” he therefore said, “Did you ever have to call the police?”

“Hm, yeah. Two months ago, but the way was longer than yours is and the area even rougher. Don’t worry, okay?”

 

“Okay,” Jean replied, but to be honest, he was scared anyway. Talking to Marco helped, yes, but he still had an uneasy feeling that something was about to happen. He answered almost mechanically when Marco asked him where he was and the other guy seemed to notice that Jean was worried and started to distract him.

“Okay, Jean. How about some really bad jokes? How do you call shoes made of bananas?” Marco paused for a little moment.

 

“Slippers!” he then said, “Which room do ghosts avoid? The living room!”

“Oh no, please, Marco. Stop it,” Jean answered. He knew those jokes from Connie and Sasha and his friends would laugh at them forever.

 

“I won’t stop until you’re laughing or until you’re home. What do you call a criminal killer whale? Someone involved in orca-nized crime,” Marco said and Jean snorted.

“You know, PMS jokes aren’t funny. Period.”

 

“Shut up already, those jokes are lame as fuck!” Jean huffed and Marco laughed.

 

“Jokes about German sausages are the wurst!”

 

That was the one that killed Jean and he exploded with laughter.

 

“Okay,” he said without breath, “you win. That one was actually funny. Didn’t know it either.”

 

“Great. Now tell me, where you are, okay?” Marco replied and Jean could hear the smile in his voice.

 

“I’m almost home. Guess I made it. Thank you, Marco, talking to you was really great and it helped me. A lot,” Jean admitted and blushed again.

 

“Fine, that’s what I wanted. Glad to hear that. Feel free to call again if you need our help, okay? And don’t worry, no one is judging you, we all know what it’s like to go home alone in the middle of the night.”

 

Jean thanked Marco again, said goodbye and hung up. Well, he didn’t think that talking to a stranger would be so helpful, but it definitely was. Marco seemed to be a great and most notably a really friendly guy.

 

He could see himself calling him again on his way home.

 

Maybe he would do that.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all:  
> Thanks to vakaria for being my beta. =)
> 
> And thanks to you for reading this.
> 
>  
> 
> This is my first real fanfiction and I'm kind of nervous... I hope you like it!  
> I love the concept of that hotline, I read about it today and think it's great, what do you think?  
> Please tell me if you like it and if I should continue writing...  
> (Though I have to admit I'm a terrible slow and lazy writer, but I'd definitely do my best if there's someone who wants to read more!)


	2. Second Call

Actually, it only took Jean one week to phone the hotline again.

And again it was Marco who answered the call.

 

“Good evening! My name is Marco Bott and you called Take Me Home Phone, so where are you and where can I take you?”

The same greeting, the same cheerful voice. Jean automatically smiled.

 

“Jean Kirstein. I talked to you last week, I don’t know if you remember…” Probably he wouldn’t. Jean had no idea how many people called the service every day, but he doubted that Marco would remember him.

 

“Ah yes, I do. The one I told the shitty jokes, right?” Marco answered and let out a small laugh. “I’m sorry about that, but hey, it helped, didn’t it?”

 

“Yeah, I think so,” Jean said smiling.

 

“So, where are you? You need to go home again?” the other asked.

 

“Same place and yeah, home again. We have ten minutes,” Jean answered.

 

“Did you go to the bar with your friends?”

“Yes, same bar, same friends. Though I should search for new ones, I guess, mine suck. They’re a couple and it sometimes is really annoying to go out with them,” Jean complained and he heard Marco chuckle.

 

“I can relate to that. I have also have two friends who always cling together and make out at every possible time. That can be really unnerving, I know that. But I guess I’m kind of the same when I’m in a relationship, so I shouldn’t be complaining about that.”

 

“So you don’t have a girlfriend at the moment? Jean asked and there was a short break in which Marco didn’t answer.

“I’m single,” he finally said, “how about you?”

 

Jean sighed. “Single as well. I’ve been crushing on this one girl for quite a long time, but I’m over her now. Don’t like her brother anyway.”

 

“Did you ask her out?”

“Nah, I didn’t. Guess it was quite obvious I had a thing for her, but she never said anything about it and finally I gave up on her.”

 

There was another short silence until Jean cleared his throat.

“So why are you working for this hotline, Marco? Do they pay well?”

Marco chuckled. “They don’t pay at all. It's volunteer work. I just like helping people and since I stay up late most of the time anyway, I thought I might as well put that time to a good use,” he answered.

 

“So, if they don’t pay you, what do you do for a living? How old are you anyway?” he asked, curious what Marco did when he wasn’t taking someone home by phone.

 

“I’m 19 like you. And I’m a college student as well. I almost forgot to ask, where are you, by the way? Even though I really enjoy talking to you, I still want you to get home safe,” Marco replied.

 

So he liked talking to him? Jean blushed. Why did he blush that much while talking to Marco? He didn’t even know that guy personally and it’s not like he would ever meet him in person, right?

 

When Marco asked him if everything was alright, Jean realized that he should probably answer him. He had been so lost in his thoughts that he almost forgot he was still on the phone with him..

 

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Sorry, I got a little distracted. I am about five minutes from home,” he quickly replied to calm Marco.

 

“Okay, good. I already started worrying that something happened, you know?”

“Nah, don’t worry. Everything’s cool, I don’t think that – ugh!”

Jean abruptly stopped talking.

 

He almost fell when someone tackled him and he accidentally dropped his phone as he tried to achieve a balance.

“Hey horseface! Who are you talking to? Where do you come from? Did you go out with Connie and Sasha again?”

Eren.

Of course, it just had to be that idiot.

Jean scowled at him and picked up his phone from the ground. Luckily the call hadn’t ended.

 

“Jean? Jean, what happened? Are you okay? Shall I call the police?”

He could hear the worried tone in Marco’s voice even before he had managed to put the phone up to his ear.

 

“I’m sorry, everything’s okay. Please don’t worry, it’s just a stupid guy I know from college who tried to be funny or something.”

“Hey, is that your girlfriend? How did a guy like you even get a girlfriend?” Eren interrupted and Jean rolled his eyes.

 

“I’m gonna hang up now, okay? He’s just annoying.

Oh, shut up, Eren, would you?” Jean said while Eren continued to talk to him.

“Where are Mikasa and Armin? Didn’t you go out with them?”

Eren shook his head.

“Nope. With Levi this time,” he answered with a wide grin on his face.

 

“And that scary guy let you go home alone? Hm. Well, I guess it somehow fits his personality…” Jean mumbled when Marco finally spoke to him again.

“Jean? Do you still need my help?” he asked and by the way his voice sounded Jean could tell that something was off, but with Eren still walking next to him, he didn’t dare to ask.

 

“No, I’ll be fine. Good night and thank you for your help. Oh and did you hear about that guy who got hit in the head with a soda-can? Luckily it was a soft-drink.“

He heard Marco chuckle and smiled. „Okay then. Bye!“ he finally said an hung up.

Eren looked at him, a rather curioud expression on his face.

„Who was that?“

„As if I would actually tell you that. You. Of all people.“

 

„Pfft. So keep your shit to yourself, I don’t care. Or I could steal your phone and find it out. Your choice!“ Eren answered and Jean grumbled.

„Forget it, just stop it. You can be so annoying!“

Eren grinned again. „Well, you know, everything to make you angry. That could be my motto, actually,” he replied.

“You wanna start a fight in the middle of the night on the way home? Really?” Jean asked, already slightly irritated.

 

But Eren shook his head.

“As much as I enjoy fighthing with you and as much as I hate to admit you’re right, I guess this time you are. Neither the right time nor place. Nobody could watch your defeat. That’s boring.”

 

Jean just snorted at that. Their fights usually ended before they really began. Either Mikasa or Armin, sometimes even Connie and Sasha interfered, before it could get ugly.

Their fights weren’t that bad anymore anyway. In the first weeks of college Eren and him got in fights every time they saw each other and almost ripped their heads off. They didn’t hate each other, they would never be best friends, but they were kind of peacefully coexistent by now. At least more or less peacefully.

 

The rest of their walk home passed in silence.

Eren was living almost next to him in the dorm, there were only a few rooms in between. They said their goodbye’s and good night’s (“Good night. Horseface!” – “Good night, asshole.”) and went into their rooms.

 

Jean didn’t go to bed, though. After his second conversation with Marco, he wanted to know more about him and since he knew his full name and at least his age, he started his computer and began searching for Marco on facebook.

When he found his profile (or what he supposed to be it, for it had the same name and age on it) he clicked on his profile picture at first, curious what the person he had been talking to looked like.

 

Marco’s hair was black, his eyes brown and he had tons of freckles on his face. He actually looked kind of cute, Jean thought.

 

He ended up stalking Marco.

When he finally shut his computer down, he had looked up everything he was able to see on Marco’s profile – which hadn’t be that much.

He had Marco’s face memorized, so that he could keep it in mind while talking to him.

And he was definitely going to do that again next week.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to Vakaria!
> 
> And thanks to everyone who read this. =] I never thought that anyone would ever read it... So I'm really happy you actually did! =)


	3. Third Call

Although Jean really wanted to call Marco, he didn’t find a reason for doing so for the next two weeks. Connie was sick the next week, so the three of them stayed home and since Jean didn’t want to go out without them, he tried to focus on studying instead. He wasn’t that successful, though.

The week after, Jean was sick. Connie came back to the classes way too soon, so he caught the infection from him.

Damn Connie.

 

Because of that, he stayed home for two weeks in a row and didn’t really need to call the _Take Me Home Phone._

Quite obviously.

When he finally went to the bar again with his two friends, he was already looking forward to his way home and when they were about to part, he was a little too cheerful not to arouse his friends suspicions.

 

“Why don’t you complain about your way home anymore, Jean? You even seem to like it now. What happened?” Sasha asked and Jean shrugged.

“Nothing, I guess. I’m just used to it by now,” he lied, but Sasha and Connie knew him too well to believe him.

 

“Something’s different since that one evening we told you about… Oh, wait. That’s it,” Connie said and there was a big smile on his face now. He turned to Sasha who looked as excited as him.

 

“He did!” she exclaimed.

“Seems like he did.” 

“I knew it!” 

“No, you didn’t” 

“Yes, I did. I told you so!”

“You didn’t!” 

“I did!” 

They looked at Jean, both a big grin on their faces now.

 

“You called the Take Me Home Phone!” Sasha screamed, totally ignoring that it was about 1 am and everyone else tried to sleep.

 

Jean blushed.

That was proof enough for his friends, who broke out into a fit of laughter.

“Yeah, right, make fun of me. Great idea. You really are the best friends in the world,” Jean answered, turning an even more impressive shade of red. Though this time it was because of both anger and embarrassment.

 

“Come on, Jean. Don’t get mad at us, we just didn’t ever believe you would actually call it. But I assume it helped, right?” Connie answered, still smiling widely.

 

Jean shrugged.

“Guess it does,” he replied.

“What are they doing? How does that hotline work?” Sasha asked curiously.

“Well, he just talks to me till I get home. That’s it,” Jean answered and Connie was surprised.

“He? You always talk to the same person?”

“Yeah, it’s always the same guy. Why do you ask? Is that unusual?”

 

Connie and Sasha exchanged meaningful looks, but didn’t answer.

“Well, then have fun talking to him, we’ll go now. Good night, Jean,” Sasha said and hugged him before she went inside. Connie just smiled and waved and followed his girlfriend.

 

Jean didn’t wait any longer and dialled the number of the hotline.

“Good evening! My name is Petra Ral and you called Take Me Home Phone! Where are you and where can I take you?”

Jean hesitated.

“Ehm,” he answered, “Hi. My name is Jean Kirstein and I… I thought… isn’t Marco there tonight?” Jean was surprised. Since he always talked to Marco, he totally forgot that there had to be other people who worked for the hotline.

 

“Oh. Oh, Jean, okay. Please wait a minute, okay?” Petra replied and there was a short break until he heard some noise and then Marco was finally on the phone.

“Jean? It’s me, Marco. Petra told me that you’re on this phone right now, she is so nice, really. And obviously she is working here, too and really, she is so lovely and kind and you wouldn’t believe it…” Marco sputtered until he paused himself and waited for Jean’s response.

 

“Yeah, it’s me. Hey, Marco,” Jean answered with a smile on his face, “how have you been? We haven’t talked in a while.”

Jean knew that this was actually his fault. They didn’t even know each other beside the fact that they were talking on Jean’s way home.

Marco seemed to think the same.

“Yeah, well, you didn’t phone, right? Didn’t need me?”

 

“Well, no, unfortunately not. I stayed home the last two weeks, so there was no reason to call your hotline, right?” Jean asked and wanted to kick his own ass shortly after that. Unfortunately? Weren’t they just talking because his way home wasn’t safe? Wouldn’t that mean that he was actually happy that he feared for his life every time he went home at night?

Jean shook his head to get rid of these thoughts and tried to focus on his call instead.

 

“That’s right, I guess. But why did you stay home? Is it even okay to ask this?” Marco asked laughing and Jean grinned.

“Yes, it is. One of my friends was sick, so we didn’t go out the first week and the week after I was sick, but I’m well now and here we are again. What have you been doing? Lonely nights without me?”

 

“Of course!” Marco answered melodramatically and now it was Jean’s turn to laugh.

“Good thing I’m able to go out again, huh?”

Marco chuckled.

“Yeah, that’s great. May I ask what happened the last time we talked? I was kind of worried that something was wrong and when you didn’t call the hotline the next week and the week after, I got a little nervous,” Marco admitted and Jean bit his lip. So the other guy had been concerned?

He told him that it just had been Eren, right?  But maybe he should give some further explanation since Marco didn’t know Eren.

 

“That was Eren, a guy from my college. He just likes to pick up a fight at every possible time and I guess he thought it was funny to tackle me or something like that… he always does stuff like that, so you eventually get used to it, but he still is an annoying asshole sometimes.” Jean said and when Marco was silent for a moment, he began to feel a little uneasy.

“Hey, Marco? Are you okay?”

 

“Huh? Oh, sorry, I zoned out a bit, I guess. So Eren annoys you. Understandable, I guess. Who do you went out with today? That couple you talked about?”

Jean hesitated. That sounded as if Marco knew Eren, but that was impossible, right? He dismissed that thought. That must have been a misunderstanding.

 

 “Yes. Connie and Sasha. I know them since I was a child and I am really happy that we’re all studying at the same college, you know? They’re my best friends, although they are kind of unnerving in the long run.” Jean told him, but he was smiling. Connie and Sasha had often proved that they were good friends and that you could depend on them, no matter what happened.

 

Marco was about to answer when he heard a “shit” from Jean.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s someone standing at the corner in front of me. Fuck, that guy doesn’t look like he wants to talk about puppies and flowers and that kind of stuff…” Jean whispered, already slightly anxious about going past that man.

“Okay, don’t worry. Everything will be fine. Maybe he won’t even talk to you and even if he does, you have me, alright?” Marco answered and he sounded absolutely convinced that nothing was going to happen.

Well, he’d keep his fingers crossed that he was right.

 

But of course that creepy guy talked to him.

“Hey, man. Do you know Miss Emma?” he slurred and Jean flinched.

“Ehm, no?” he answered and he could hear a sharp intake of breath from Marco.

“Jean, get away from there. If he wants to introduce you to ‘Miss Emma’, say no, be polite, but say no and then leave as soon as possible, okay?” he said and Jean could tell that there was something wrong by the way he emphasized ‘Miss Emma’.

 

And as if Marco was a psychic, the guy offered Jean to introduce him to whoever Miss Emma was.

“Ah, no, thanks. I better go home.” Jean replied and Marco agreed.

“Talk to me. Say that I’m your girlfriend and that I’m waiting for you or something like that. Let him know that you’re phoning with someone and that there is someone who would get worried if you weren’t coming home anytime soon,” he advised him.

 

“Okay, sweetheart. I’m already on my way, nearly home, okay?” Jean asked after that and the guy frowned. He seemed to be kind of annoyed, but then turned to leave.

“Ah, never mind,” he muttered and left Jean, who felt relieved immediately after the man rounded a corner and was out of sight, alone.

 

“What the fuck was that?” Jean finally exclaimed, laughing.

“That,” Marco answered, “was a drug dealer trying to sell his stuff. These guys aer usually a little more persistent, so you’re lucky that he left so soon.”

Jean didn’t answer. That guy had tried to sell him drugs? What would’ve happened if he wasn’ton the phone with Marco? Would that guy still be there, would he still try to make him buy hat shit?

 

“Hey, are you okay, Jean? Please say something,” Marco begged after a while.

Jean had almost forgotten that he was still one the phone.

“Yes, I am. I’m okay. I think,” he answered and Marco took a deep breath.

“As long as we’re talking, as long as I’m with you, nothing is going to happen to you. I promise!”

That made Jean smile again.

 

The rest of his way home blissfully was uneventful. Marco talked about his favourite movies (His taste in movies was more than a bit disturbing; Disney movies, but also thriller and slasher films) and succeeded in taking Jean’s mind off that dealer.

When Jean came home, he was grinning again and didn’t think of it anymore.

 

He was about to hang up when Marco seemed to gather all his courage and asked for Jean’s number.

“I mean, you’re a nice guy and I really like talking to you, so I don’t know, I just thought texting and talking to you would be nice,” he explained and Jean laughed.

“Okay, why not, I actually like talking to you, too,” he answered and when they finally hung up, Marco had his number and had promised to text him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god... I'm so sorry that I took so long to update this...  
> I'm already working on the next one, so I hope I won't need that much time again.
> 
> Thanks again to vakaria.  
> And thanks to everyone who read this, left kudos or commented, you're great! =)


	4. Fourth Call

Jean waited fort he whole week, but Marco neither texted nor called him.

Maybe the other guy had changed his mind? Jean shook his head. He should have asked him for his number as well. Why the hell didn't he?

Well, because Marco had asked him for his number and said he would text him and he had trusted him to actually do that.

 

When Friday came and Jean was at the bar with Sasha and Connie again, he wasn’t sure if he would call the hotline on his way home. His friends had been teasing him about these calls every time they saw him.

Every. Fucking. Time.

It really annoyed him, but he didn’t know how to shut them about this thing, so he just did his best to ignore their remarks.

 

In the end, he didn’t call the _Take Me Home Phone_ when he walked home. Although he expected someone who was about to murder him behind every corner, nothing happened. Yet he was very glad when he finally arrived at the dorm he was living in.

It wasn’t like he didn’t want to call the hotline, but his pride forbid him to do so.

He had given Marco his number and Marco had refused to call or text him or whatever.

 

So Marco definitely wasn’t interested in him, right? It was his turn to message Jean, right?

Seeing as he didn’t, it was obvious that he didn’t want to talk to Jean. At least that was his conclusion.

Not that he was interested in Marco. Absolutely not. Except for a friendship.

That guy was really nice, yes. They had a lot in common, Jean couldn’t deny that. And yeah, he looked freaking awesome on his facebook pictures (although Jean still was afraid that he was looking on a different Marco on facebook than he was talking to on the phone).

And maybe he even missed Marco’s voice or talking to him or his laughter. Maybe.

But he wasn’t interested in Marco Bodt. At least not in a romantic or sexual way. They would make good friends and there was no reason to risk a potential friendship by thinking too much into those calls or talking to Marco in general. Why should Marco want anything more anyway? There was no evidence that Marco was interested in guy’s, so it would be just friendship.

And as a friend there was no reason to freak out just because Marco didn’t contact him right away, right? Well, if he kept telling himself he might even start believing that…

Never mind.

 

On Sunday, he received a text.

His phone had been lying on his bed while he was working on an assignment he had to turn in the next week on his desk. He choose to ignore it.

Probably Connie who was asking him how he was doing, so that he didn’t have to work on his own stuff.

That idiot really should stop procrastinating and the best way of telling him that was not answering his messages, at least in Jean’s opinion.

 

When his phone let him know that he had received another text and shortly after a third one, he finally got up and decided to call Connie and tell him that he should stop bothering him.

But instead of Connie, the texts were from a number that Jean didn’t recognize.

 

**“Hey, is this Jean’s number?”**

 

That was the first one. And yeah, it obviously was. Jean furrowed his brows. Who would ask that? Well, maybe one of the next messages would tell him that, so he opened the next.

 

**“Oh, I forgot… this is Marco, btw.”**

 

Marco?

Jean quickly looked at the last text.

 

**“See, I’m sorry if you’re not Jean and I’m bothering you or anything, but would you kindly tell me if I got the right number? Please? I will stop texting you now. But please answer me!”**

 

Jean bit his lip after reading this and stared at his phone for a while. So Marco had finally texted him. Should he answer? Right now? Should he wait? Would that come off as needy? After all Marco kept him waiting as well, didn’t he?

Why did he start to think so much about this? There was absolutely no reason to do so. He finally just typed **Yeah** and hit send before he went back to work, his phone next to his notes on his desk.

 

Only a few moments after he had sat down, his phone started ringing.

Marco called him.

 

Jean hesitated for a moment before picking up his phone.

 

“Yeah?”

“Hey, Jean. It’s me. Marco,” the other replied.

“Well, I thought so.”

There was a short and kind of awkward break in their conversation.

“You didn’t call the hotline this weekend, right? Did you stay at home?” Marco finally asked and Jean sighed.

“No, went out. Why are you calling now? A little late, don’t you think?”

 

It took a moment for Marco to answer.

“I just… since you didn’t call the hotline, I wanted to make sure that you’re okay,” he said, sounding nervous.

“I am. Is there anything else? I have stuff to do, you know?”

“Actually, yes. I wanted to apologize. I know that I promised to message you, but I… I don’t know, I thought, if I would… if I would text you, I’d be bothering you or something like that. I mean, I obviously am right now. And to be honest, my boss, if you can actually call her that because… you know… she doesn’t pay me and stuff, well… she was kind of freaking out that I asked for your number.

The thing is, we’re not allowed to do something like that. You’re supposed to stay as anonymous as possible, a stupid rule, but she forced me to delete your number. Well, luckily I wrote it down on a note, but I couldn’t find it just then and yeah. Anyway, I’m sorry that I waited so long,” Marco stammered and Jean needed a moment to get over that monologue, so he stayed quiet for a bit.

 

“I thought you just didn’t want to talk to me,” he finally admitted.

Marco laughed. “Really? Are you serious? I kind of thought the same about you! I thought I’d be bothering you, as I said. I should just… I should have texted you earlier, that would have saved both of us this trouble, don’t you think?”

Jean smiled. “Yeah, I guess, you’re right. Well, now you know that it’s totally fine to text me or call me or whatever, okay?”

“Of course and I promise that I won’t stop texting you except when I’m sleeping or you tell me to stop. If that is okay with you as well. I don’t want to annoy you!” Marco answered and Jean just knew that if he would have looked at him, Marco would have winked or most likely his mind just made that up to annoy him because that would have been flirting and he was pretty sure that wasn't what Marco was doing.

"Well, okay. I’m gonna answer every now and then, alright?” Jean answered and laughed. He definitely would answer every single one of the texts Marco was going to send him. That was a normal thing for friends to do after all.

 

Since Jean really had to finish his assignment, they didn’t talk for long on that Sunday. But they agreed on texting and right after they hung up, Jean got the first of Marco's texts.

 

**“I’m really glad I finally called you. Sorry that it took me so long… I’m really looking forward to talk to you more often. Anyway, I won’t bother you any more, you have work to do! Prepare to be texted tomorrow!”**

 

Jean laughed and sent a short reply that he wasn’t really motivated to do anything, but you know, what had to be done... At least he could be looking forward to talk to Marco.

Just to become friends, of course. They hadn’t even met in person yet. To want anything more would be ridiculous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no. This took so long. I'm sorry, really. I wanted to update this a hundred years ago, I can't believe I didn't manage that... crap. =/  
> And now university started again... Meh.  
> I can't even promise that the next chapter will be out soon, I don't know how long it will take me to write it. So please forgive me if it takes a while, too.  
> Thanks again to vakaria! I really appreciate your help. =)
> 
> And well, thanks to you for reading this. \o/ You're awesome!


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